I've heard that for instance, in the 1800s, the American rabbis in the South were pro-slavery, and the American rabbis in the North opposed to it. But what were the views towards America of the more-famous "Acharonim", rabbis from (in this case) the 1700s and 1800s, who are famous for their writings?

Did, say, the Noda Bihuda or Vilna Gaon comment (as an aside in any of their writings?) on the American Revolution?

Did R' Hirsch, the Netziv, Malbim, the Rebbe Maharash, Ben Ish Chai , or other great rabbinic thinkers of the 1800s (pick your flavor of Orthodoxy) comment on American slavery and/or the Civil War? (As Dostoevsky did, lehavdil?)

Was the development of the United States of America really "on the map" of these rabbis?

The thing I could find was this Besides exploring the life and times of the Vilna Gaon, the 704-page book identifies, provides documentation for more than 20,000 descendants of the Vilna Gaon and his siblings. There is an index listing all persons in the book. The Gaon's descendants seem as diverse as the Jewish people itself, Freedman said. Some descendants were prominent rabbis and academicians. Some were involved in a rare agricultural settlement experiment in Russia, while others variously served in the American Civil War and emigrated to places like England and Australia well before the m
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SimchasTorahJul 23 '10 at 13:53

Fascinating; however, the fact that the Gaon's -- grandchildren or great-grandchildren I presume -- served in the Civil War (which side?) does not prove much about his views. People's grandchildren wind up in all sorts of different places -- even Bnei Brak!
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ShalomJul 23 '10 at 14:07

7 Answers
7

Rabbi Yissachar Dov Illowy (Rabbi Dr. Bernard Illowy), a talmid of the Ksav Sofer, was the Rav of New Orleans at the time of the Civil War, and commented favorably on the right of the Confederacy to secede from the Union. For more information about him, see:

This is great stuff! Thanks! I have some particular personal interest in this because I think it's likely to RDr Illowy knew my wife's forebears in New Orleans and because I happen to know the author of the second and third sources personally.
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Isaac MosesJul 23 '10 at 17:58

I have heard - though I don't know of any written source for this - that the Divrei Chaim, R' Chaim of Sanz (1793-1876), was critical of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation (or maybe more generally of his anti-slavery stance), seeing it as flouting Noach's prophecy as recorded in Gen. 9:25.

Apparently I had my facts doubly wrong:

This statement is attributed not to the Divrei Chaim, but to his son R. Yechezkel of Shinova (1813-1898) (as Yirmiyahu pointed out in his comment).

It is said that R. Yitzchak (Itzik'l) of Pshevorsk retold this story after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963. However, this post states that the present Pshevorsker Rebbe, R. Leibish, denied that his grandfather ever said any such thing.

I wonder if he would have also been critical of the Declaration of Independence: "we hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal" (of course, TJ was a major slave owner, so he clearly didn't understand "all men" as we do today)
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JeremyJul 26 '10 at 19:33

1

Maybe he would have distinguished between a declaration of principles (which, after all, has no legal standing) and an actual proclamation that accomplished a certain act.
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AlexJul 28 '10 at 5:08

Can you find the source? I have seen such a statement in the name of the Divrei Yechezkel, though it was a very late.
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YirmeyahuFeb 19 '12 at 5:59

What does this story have to do with JFK? I heard that there was a curse on JFK's family from ??JJ Hecht's father??
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Shmuel BrinFeb 27 '12 at 22:51

Basically, at the time there were only a handful of rabbis in the whole country and none of them of any serious stature. Similarly, the other primary country affected by these events was England, but the Jewish community was very small at the time, especially considering that Jews were only allowed to naturalize as citizens by the Jewish Naturalization Act 1753.

Can't speak to any of the rabbinic figures elsewhere in Europe, but I would agree with prior assessments that it wasn't a burning issue of the day for the average shtetl-goer.

Ariel, thanks for the call out to my shiurim. This has lately been an interest of mine and soon I hope there will be posted two additional shiurim about R' Avraham Rice who also lived at that time.
While I do not (yet) know of any 'classic' acharonim who commented on the Civil War anyone interested in the subject should take a look at R' Illowy's Milchamos Elokim (written by his son and available at http://hebrewbooks.org) and various articles from the Jewish periodical from that time called the Occident (which is available and searchable on a wonderful website http://jewish-history.com). There is also the 'Fast Day Sermon' given by R' M.J. Raphall (which is also found on that website and who was the first rabbi of NYs Bnai Jeshurun Congregation) permitting slavery, but not as it was practiced in the South, and agreeing with the right to secede (I talk about this in one of the classes).
I'll be happy to update this if I find anything else interesting...

Yaakov Weinstein, Thanks very much for all of your great research and for coming here and sharing it with us! Please consider clicking register, above, to create your account. This will give you access to all of mi.yodeya's features and will allow you to take full credit for your contributions.
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Isaac MosesJul 27 '10 at 3:56

Further, at a time when the nations of Europe and America have
recognized the evils of intolerance and have accepted the right of
freedom of speech, how can Jews keep to the medieval ideas of hatred
against all who think differently than themselves. It is only by
recognizing and accepting the good laws of the nations that the Jews
can become “a wise and understanding nation” as described in the
Torah (Devarim 4:6).

wolf2191, Welcome to mi.yodeya, and thank you very much for bringing in this fascinating source! Can you describe briefly who Shir was? Also, please consider clicking on register, above, to create your account. This will give you access to all of mi.yodeya's features and will allow you to take full credit for your contributions.
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Isaac MosesJul 23 '10 at 17:39

5

Since wolf2191 hasn't yet had a chance to answer, I can do so: Shir is Shlomo Yehudah Rappaport (1790-1867), a son-in-law of the Ketzos Hachoshen (R' Aryeh Leib Heller, d. 1813). He served as Rabbi of Prague, and was a noted maskil (and a rather controversial one: the traditional Jews considered his opinions liberal and heretical, while the more radical maskilim thought him too conservative and orthodox).
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AlexJul 28 '10 at 5:16

Not really an acharon, but Moses Mendelssohn had a favorable attitude towards the ideas behind the American Revolution, see http://www.scribd.com/doc/68286043/Altmann-the-Philosophical-Roots-of-Mendelssohn-s-Emancipation-Plea "That he closely followed the events across the Atlantic is obvious from a footnote at the end of Jerusalem: 'Alas, now even the Congress in America rehashes the old slogan and speaks of a dominant religion.' This remark clearly shows that until this latest news reached him he had been greatly encouraged by the American example. He may have guessed that the setback was only a temporary affair. In the very year in which Mendelssohn wrote Jerusalem (1782), Thomas Jefferson wrote his Notes on Virginia, in which he expressed the view that a variety of religious opinions was in the best interests of progress and freedom; that the legitimate powers of government extended only to such acts as were injurious to others; and that nobody was injured by his neighbor's religious beliefs" (p. 200). See also http://www.scribd.com/doc/68286198/The-Congruence-of-Thomas-Jefferson-and-Moses-Mendelssohn
Another maskil/rabbi who took a favorable attitude toward the religious freedom promulgated by the Founding Fathers was R. Nachman Krochmal--see here for a fascinating illustration.

pruzhaner, welcome to the site and thanks for your information! I hope you stick around and enjoy the site. If you register your username, the site will be able to attribute all your contributions to you, and you will otherwise have a better experience on the site.
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msh210♦Nov 13 '11 at 20:46

2

THe father of reform Judaism is not one of the Achronim
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simchastorahNov 14 '11 at 5:42